A COUPLE who were discovered dead in their Suffolk home are thought to have taken their own lives in a double suicide.

The bodies of Caroline Lawrenson, 70, and her husband John, 80, were found in their home in Great Waldingfield by a friend.

A spokeswoman for Suffolk police said officers were called after the friend found the pair in The Old Rectory around 9am on Saturday.

An ambulance was called but the couple were declared dead at their home around 9.35am.

The police spokeswoman confirmed the deaths were not being treated as suspicious.

“They are being treated as suicide,” she said.

An inquest into the deaths was opened and adjourned at the Suffolk coroner’s office in Bury St Edmunds yesterday.

Friends and neighbours were yesterday stunned as news of the popular couple’s death spread through the quiet Suffolk village.

David Floyd, 73, a former parish council chairman for Great Waldingfield, said the community would be shocked by the news.

“For those who knew them it will be a considerable shock,” he said.

“Whatever happened, it doesn’t make sense.”

The couple had two children, Frank Lawrenson, 44, and Sophie Little, 42.

Mr Lawrenson, from Kersey, is due to stand as a Conservative candidate in the Babergh District Council elections next week.

It is thought Mr and Mrs Lawrenson had been involved with a restoration project at St Lawrence Church in Great Waldingfield.

“John was an extremely nice man,” Mr Floyd said. “It was a privilege to know him.”

Mr Lawrenson worked as a general manager at Reuters news agency before becoming a publisher and founding Monitor Press.

He later went on to write the book, The Price of Truth: the story of Reuters millions with Lionel Barber, published in 1984.